The 2019 iPad Air has just been released, but there’s a problem, it’s basically
the 2017 10.5” iPad Pro, but with a newer processor and a few missing features, for
almost as much cash.
And we’ve seen the 2017 Pro for as low as $400 on Amazon, even cheaper than the Air,
so make sure to check the links in the description to see if it’s still on sale.
So what’s the difference?
And how do you choose?
Well, let’s compare them!
On the backside, they look almost identical, except that the old Pro has a camera bump
and flash.
On the top edge, you’ll find two extra speakers on the Pro, which is the biggest reason to
get the Pro instead.
We also get the same smart connector on the side of each iPad for the smart keyboard.
On the front, they look literally identical.
They get the same resolution, same laminated display, same true tone and p3 wide-color
gamut, but the Air is actually missing ProMotion technology.
What this means is that it allows the display to refresh at up to 120Hz and dynamically
go down to match the frame rate of the content you’re viewing to save battery life.
As you can see in this slow-mo clip of the 2018 iPad Pro and 2019 iPad Air, the difference
in the smoothness of ProMotion compared to the Air is huge!
And trust me, you’ll feel this difference every day!
Not only that, but ProMotion lowers the latency of the Apple Pencil as well, and you can easily
see the difference compared to the iPad Air which doesn’t have it.
The 2017 iPad Pro’s display also gets brighter, at 600 nits compared to 500 on the new Air,
so that means it supports HDR video.
Now let’s listen to a quick sound comparison between these iPads.
As you guys heard, most of the sound is coming from the right side on the Air, so you get
a much better listening experience on the Pro, not to mention actual stereo separation
in landscape mode.
This is gonna be huge if you’re into gaming, allowing you to easily hear footsteps around
you in shooting games.
Before we compare performance and gaming, let’s compare the cameras.
The 2017 iPad Pro actually has a better rear camera than the Air, at 12MP instead of 8.
This means you can take better photos and shoot 4K video.
Here’s a quick photo comparison so you can see the difference.
Getting into performance, the 2019 iPad Air gets the new A12 processor from the iPhone
XS, complete with the neural engine, and the 2017 iPad Pro gets an older A10X chip, but
the Pro actually gets 4GB of RAM compared to 3 on the new Air.
Comparing Geekbench 4 scores, the Air is 22% faster in single-core and 21% faster in multi-core,
which is definitely a difference, but not that much.
Comparing the Metal graphics performance test, the old iPad Pro is actually 35% faster than
the new Air, which affects gaming performance more than processor performance does.
Now testing the Antutu benchmark, the new Air is now 35% faster than the old Pro, a
pretty good difference.
We decided to test a more realistic test by exporting a 1 minute 4K HEVC video, and the
iPad Air finished 18 seconds sooner than the old Pro, which is surprisingly not that big
of a difference.
Now let’s compare gaming performance.
Playing Fortnite, both iPads can play at 60 frames per second, but the old Pro is limited
to Medium graphics in this setting, while the new Air can run 60fps on High settings.
In game, both of them are incredibly smooth and responsive, with no noticeable dropped
frames at 60 fps.
The biggest difference I noticed was actually the speakers.
It was hard to hear footsteps on the Air with speakers only on one side.
So it seems like the Air is going to have better gaming performance with higher settings
in certain game, but both iPads run games perfectly.
The Air also gets newer cellular and wireless tech like Bluetooth 5.0, simultaneous dual-band
WiFi and Gigabit-class LTE.
So here’s the question, since you can find the 2017 iPad Pro for $500-$570 brand new
or for only $400 refurbished on Amazon, is the extra performance of the 2019 iPad Air
worth missing out on the iPad Pro’s awesome ProMotion technology and four-speaker audio?
Going back to a non-Pro iPad feels really weird because it’s missing ProMotion, it
feels like the processor is slow but it really isn’t.
Same for the speakers, once you experience four speakers on the Pro, it’s really hard
to go back.
In my opinion, those features make the 2017 10.5” iPad Pro a much better value than
the Air, as long as you can find it on sale below $600, which it currently is on Amazon,
so make sure to check the links in the description below.
The only caveat is that the Pro will lose software support in 5 years instead of 7 on
the Air, but when that happens, if you do wait that long to upgrade your iPad, you won’t
really mind since you enjoyed the ProMotion tech and better speakers for all of those
years.
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Thank for watching, and we’ll see you in the next one!